Historic US highway endpoint near Ucolo, UT

1934-1939
The stretch of highway between Dove Creek CO and Monticello UT has seen an inordinate amount of numbering changes.  
  • 1926-1934: The original US route crossing the stateline here was US 450, which ran between Walsenburg CO and Crescent Jct UT.  
  • 1934-1939: US 450 in Colorado was replaced by an extended US 160, but Utah kept the 450 designation in their state for a few more years (this map captured that brief moment in time):
Picture
c. 1934, Gousha
  • 1939-1970: US 160 replaced the remainder of US 450 through Utah.
  • 1970-2003: the US 160 designation was rerouted to go southwest out of Cortez CO (instead of northwest), so this route was renumbered as an extension of US 666.
  • 2003-present: the entirety of US 666 was replaced with US 491.
This photo shows what was the east end of US 450 and the west beginning of US 160 from about 1934-1939:
Picture
Sanderson; July 2004
Note the "South" tab, and compare to this photo, which showed the sign directly across the road, heading the opposite direction:
Picture
Sanderson; July 2004
Until sometime after 2012, Utah signed US 491 as an east-west route, which was appropriate in that state.  But as of 2018 UDoT's directional tabs had been changed to north-south.  At any rate, that location was once the west end of US 160, and the east beginning of US 450.
Research and/or photo credits: Steve Lockwood; Dale Sanderson; Thomas Silas
Page originally created 2004;
last updated Jan. 15, 2021.